As a way to create something positive out of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a group of South Surrey high-school students and recent graduates – from Semiahmoo Secondary and Southridge School – have joined together to raise money for local health-care workers.

The group – which started at just three before ballooning to 14 as word of the project spread – has launched Say Thanks Surrey, an initiative which provides people a brightly coloured ‘Thank You’ lawn sign in exchange for a donation of at least $15. Those who donate will have the option to have the funds support either Surrey Memorial or Peace Arch Hospital.

“My sister, Lisa, and I started the project after seeing artwork in the neighbourhood (posters, chalk art, etc.) thanking our frontline workers,” Gary Xie, one of the organizers, told Peace Arch News by email.

“We thought the initiative might help build community spirit and a feeling of solidarity in the current times of uncertainty.”

The yellow signs – which can be delivered or picked up, upon donating – provide a space to write the name of the person, or people, you wish to thank. Each sign also contains the phrase, “Hope and gratitude are more contagious than any virus.”

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